Someone to Blame by Susanne Lakin

Author:Susanne Lakin [C. S. Lakin ]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780310577492
Publisher: Zondervan

Chapter 26

THE AFTERNOON SUN WARMED CASEY’S BACK AS SHE SAT IN the small enclosed garden. School had let out early, just after lunch, for a teachers’ in-service meeting. Meredith, with her notebook on her lap, sprawled out on a ratty couch, her leg dangling over the armrest. Casey thought it odd having a sofa in the middle of a flower garden, but Meredith’s yard boasted an eclectic assortment of garage-sale conquests. The last time she had been at Meredith’s to work on the science report, Sunny—Meredith’s mother—brought out an old urn she found at the monthly flea market. Casey cringed when Sunny told her it still contained someone’s ashes. Then her jaw dropped when Sunny opened the lid and started sprinkling the contents around the bushes and flower beds in the yard. Good nutrients for the plants, Sunny said. Meredith had only giggled.

A half-dozen cats stretched out on the brick patio. Sunny’s garden was a tangled mass of vegetation, with prolific vines trailing over the ground and escaping over the short wooden fence. Cabbages and peas forced their way between clumps of foxglove and shrubby roses. Always an adventure looking for salad ingredients, Meredith said. Fortunately, she added, most of what grew in the yard was edible, so if she picked something unidentifiable, it probably wouldn’t kill her to eat it. Sunny often came outside to dig, prune, trim, or gather something while Casey and Meredith worked. Wearing flowing gypsy-style skirts and dozens of clinking silver bracelets on each arm, she usually strolled in and out of the garden with platters of finger food and drinks, chatting about auras and the alignment of the planets. But Casey hadn’t seen her today.

Casey liked coming over to Meredith’s. She found Sunny’s cheerful, carefree disposition refreshing, and Meredith entertained her with crazy stories of life in Breakers. Inside, the house was like a harem, with dozens of candles burning on long side tables under draping canopies of colorful fabric. Big poofy pillows covered the living room floor—every inch of it. To get to the bathroom, you had to step on them, like stepping on stones across a creek—barefoot, of course. Sunny burned incense, filling the house with a sweet, exotic aroma. Asian paintings and sculptures filled the nooks and walls. Such a different place than her own drab home.

Casey took off her sweatshirt and enjoyed the sun baking her skin. She lifted her face skyward and soaked up the warmth. Only one more paragraph to write on her tide pool observations and she’d be done until after Thanksgiving.

Strange Indian music floated out the back bedroom window. Casey frowned. That was not the only sound she heard coming from that room. Laughter, a man’s voice. Sunny was “entertaining” again—Meredith’s term for her mother’s afternoon affairs.

Casey glanced at Meredith, over at the far end of the yard. Meredith chewed her pencil and twirled her long, chocolate-brown hair, concentrating on the paper resting in her lap. Casey sat in a plastic swivel chair under the lattice-covered patio right next to the house.

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